November 1/07 12:50 pm - MTB Quotas for Beijing Qualification

Posted by Editor on 11/1/07

MTB Quotas for Beijing Qualification

After the UCI released its latest rankings for mountain bike (October 18th - see Daily News today), the final national quotas for the Beijing Games next August are all but set. The UCI decided for the 2008 Games to use the combined Nation rankings from the end of 2006 and 2007 to determine the number of entries each nation receives. Although the calendar year is not yet finished, there are very few events left, and it is all but mathematically impossible for the top rankings to change. Full rankings are laid out in a table below.

On the men's side, the top five nations receive three starting spots, nations ranked 6 to 13 get two spots and 14 to 24 get one spot. For the women, the top eight get two spots, and 9 to 18th place get one spot. There are also additional spots qualified by Continental Championships, but the maximum number of spots listed above cannot be exceeded.

For the men, this means it looks like France, Switzerland, Spain, Belgium and Germany will get three spots, while Canada and the U.S. receive two. Canada was never really in contention for a third spot, but the U.S. dropped down after Germany and Belgium leapfrogged over it in the latter half of this season. Despite the absence of Liam Killeen for most of 2007, Great Britain will likely squeak in with two spots.

China dominated the women's rankings; nearly 900 points ahead of second place Germany. Both Canada and the U.S. easily qualified the maximum two spots, in third and fourth places respectively. Despite the absence of Gunn-Rita Dahle Flesjaa for most of the season, her staggering points total from 2006 (and the late surge this season of Lene Byberg) means that Norway will get two spots, currently fifth in the standings. Irene Kalentyeva's strong season also means that Russia (seventh) gets two spots, one place in the rankings behind Poland, while Switzerland rounds out the top-eight. Spain (11th) has dropped to only one place after Marga Fullana's absence from the Worlds and World Cup Final (due to a high hematocrit result prior to the Worlds).